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October 8, 2011

Culture Wars: Dallas Pastor Jeffress and Hate Group Leader Perkins Were Born Stupid

Ron Paul Tops Redneck Values and Teabagger Voters Summit Straw Poll

The Redneck Values Teabagger Voters Summit released the results of their “straw poll” today, and Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul emerged the victor, with 37%. Pizzaman Herman Cain finished in second, with 23%, while unemployed former Senator Rick ‘Sicko’ Santorum came in third, with 16% of the teabaggers support.

Born again Texas Governor Rick ‘Shoot ‘em up’ Perry, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele ‘Bozo’ Bachmann, were virtually tied with 8%. I wonder if Bozo will say she elected not to participate, which is what she said when she tried to explain her abysmal showing in the Florida straw poll. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich brought up the rear with4% and 3% respectively.The headline dominating news coverage of Friday’s right wing extremists redneck gathering, relates to Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress. He was recruited to introduce the Texas governor, and in a pre-speech press release he announced that he was also going “to draw sharp contrast between Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”In theWashington Post, Rachel Weiner, covering the Redneck Values and Teabagger Voters Summit, reported that Jeffress met with the media after his remarks, and made some inflammatory statements.

….Robert Jeffress, a prominent evangelical leader, told reporters that Mormonism was a cult and that Romney was not a Christian.

“Mormonism is not Christianity,” Jeffress declared.

Jeffress is a supporter of a Romney rival, Texas Gov.Rick Perry , and introduced Perry at the summit to rousing applause.

Jeffress, whose church is a prominent member of the Southern Baptist Convention, began making his point during the introduction: “Do we want a candidate who is a good moral person, or do we want a candidate who is a born-again follower of Jesus Christ? In Rick Perry, we have a candidate who is a committed follower of Christ.”

The pastor revved up a sleepy crowd — as Perry himself said when he took the stage. “He really knocked it out of the park!” Perry said.

Speaking with reporters later, Jeffress made his allusion clear. “Mormonism is not Christianity,” he declared. “It’s not politically correct to say, but Mormonism is a cult.”

Romney’s religion was the subject of much debate in the 2008 presidential campaign and Jeffress was making the same charges back then. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, even gave ahigh-profile speech on the topic to address the allegations. This time, his faith has gotten far less attention, until now.

Jeffress said he had nothing against Romney as a person, but considered the candidate a “conservative out of convenience” who was inconsistent on social issues. “I think he’s a fine family person,” Jeffress said. “It is only faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that qualifies you as a Christian.”

A Perry campaign spokesman released a statement saying that Perry did not agree with Jeffress about Romney’s religion. “The governor does not believe Mormonism is a cult,” wrote Robert Black in an e-mail. “He is not in the business of judging people. That’s God’s job.”

In addition to Jeffress making inflammatory statements, the hate group Family Research Council’s (FRC) president Tony Perkins, supported Jeffress and his statements. He reiterated that he does not think that Mormons are Christians. Politicoreported that Perkins said:

"For evangelicals who are looking at Mormonism versus evangelicalism from a theological perspective, they are different," Perkins said. "Mormonism and Christianity, I believe, are two different things."

Isn’t it ironic that these two alleged Christian leaders are harshly judging a religion that is not their own? I’m not a theologian, and I’m not an expert on religion at all. Regardless, I know I was raised with Christian values, and I’m sure that what I see from Jeffress and Perkins are the antithesis of what those values represent. I’d like to use the headline “Tony Perkins is full of shit” again, as I would see a spike in page views on my blog, but I’m not doing this for page views.Perkins and Jeffress would be well served to go back and study scripture, and that might compel them to change their tune. But we know that won't happen, and that they will continue to stick to their poorly written script. These two nitwits profit from peddling hyperbole and innuendo, and their statements reflect that they were born stupid, and they'll stay stupid.And I found my new headline.